Project Baseline encourages local dive groups to document ongoing environmental conditions in their favorite aquatic environments. Then, by regularly monitoring a location and publishing data including pictures and narrative logs through Google Earth, Project Baseline aims to raise public awareness of ecological deterioration to facilitate more detailed scientific inquiry and influence public policy.
Become part of Project Baseline and help gather important data, images and reports that will become valuable for any scientist, marine biologist and others to study and so that we can learn from the effects caused by human presence.
Your participation is encouraged and is valuable.
Read more about Project Baseline in this flyer: Project Baseline
Please Note: This website here is featuring the Gulfstream Chapter of Project Baseline.
Case Study
We are monitoring the Osborne Tire Reef.
The Osborne Tire Reef is an artificial reef off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida constructed of concrete jacks in a 50 feet (15m) diameter circle. In the 1970s, the reef was subject to an ambitious expansion project utilizing old and discarded tires. The project ultimately failed, and the “reef” has come to be considered an environmental disaster. It was speculated that corals would attach and grow on the tires, but it is evidently clear today that this has hardly happened. Instead a great number of the tires have started migrating across the sandy bottom, over and onto the natural reef causing great damage there.
What was meant to do good for nature is causing more harm.
We are exploring means and best avenues of tire removal procedures and are monitoring the status quo and further development. This is a huge project and undertaking, but we are keen on making a real difference and see if we can be part of a solution for remedying the problem.
To visit Project Baseline on Google Earth, click this link and open with your Google Earth application